Its not ideological. Russians feel deeply attached to Crimea and even Putin’s opponents consider it a part of the Motherland. Beyond that, the Russian consensus breaks down. Few in Russia want war with Ukraine or seek a confrontation with the West.
The restraint the Russians have shown reflects of how far Putin’s Russia can realistically go. Crimea was always a special case because of its predominantly Russian population and its ties to Russian history and culture. But I don’t see anything like a revival of imperial ambitions in today’s Russia.
The Ukrainian crisis is going to be resolved peacefully. But no one expects Russia to concede Crimea.
Putin likes globalism when it makes him rich, like bin Laden did. Putin is personally much richer than bin Laden ever dreamed of being. But Putin uses anti-globalist arguments that he doesn’t believe to fool the rubes and dupes.
We supply our forces in Afghanistan via Russia. There are several different routes included in the Northern Distribution Network. The most commonly used route, though also one of the longest, starts at the port of Riga, Latvia on the Baltic Sea, and continues for 3,212 miles (5,169 km) by train southwards through Russia, using railroads built by Russia in the 1980s for the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
They are the only rocket going to the space station.
Germany and the EU is shutting down nuclear and coal...and Europe gets cold.
For extra fun, Russia prices its oil and gas contracts in US DOLLARS.
This game of starting a sanctions game for an area where the Russians have been since 1789 is ridiculous. People are acting like they are about to invade Denmark or something.
Excellent article — the first I’ve read that reflects my disdain for NATO’s misguided eastern expansions in 1999 and 2004. How did we expect Moscow to react to a hostile alliance pledging treaty membership to Russia’s immediate neighbors? What we’re witnessing now is the logical reply.
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SCOTT WAGNER BEATS THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT - CAP and a Pennsylvania write-in revolt.
Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
Unfortunately, this is not only about Crimea. Check out info here https://twitter.com/search?q=ukraine
As some of you know, I've been a consistent dove on Crimea, and I have openly doubted that Putin has serious expansionist dreams.
But today, violent “pro-Russian” mobs seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine.
No way to know if these are local groups acting independently, or if this is a well planned provocation to send Russian troops into Ukraine.
Short of a USA-Russia war, I really don't see how we stop a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
No mention of the key thing America should do: deregulate access to extracting domestic petrochemical energy. Facilitate sale of technical means for Europe to do the same. This would do a lot to set both the Muzzies and the Russians back on their financial heels.
After being given Crimea, Putin got another large gift.
The world now knows, without any doubt, that the president of the United States is a bumbling fool with an idiot as foreign minister.
I think about it as follows:
Russia:Ukraine = USA:Mexico.
We’ve invaded Mexico before, we’ve taken the parts of it that seemed useful to us, I favor doing it again as often as necessary, and if Russia wanted to interfere, then or now, I’d say, “F*** ‘em”.
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